Product Details

• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Bandai
• DVD Release Date: March 28, 2006
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000CQQIBM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,715 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Hime is the Japanese word for "princess," but in the broadcast series My-Hime, it stands for Highly-advanced Materializing Equipment--a set of supernatural abilities certain girls possess. Mai Tokiha and her brother Takumi believe that their new school, Fuka Academy, is a normal facility. It's actually the center of the battle against the Orphans: malevolent, alien monsters who can only be defeated by girls with HiME powers. Each HiME has a "guardian angel," a sort of half-mecha being that fights with her against the metamorphic Orphans. Naturally, Mai is a powerful HiME, although she's unaware of it. The filmmakers can't seem to decide if they're making a magical girl vs. monster adventure series or a fan-service farce. Violent battles against grotesque Orphans are juxtaposed with cleavage shots and nosebleed jokes: viewers can't tell if they're supposed to cheer or snicker. (Rated 13 and older: violence, brief nudity, risqué humor) --Charles Solomon

Product Description

MY-HIME VOL 1 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AWAKENING NEW POWERS, March 30, 2006

By 

Sesho "www.sesho.libsyn.com" (Pasadena, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My-Hime, Volume 1 (Episodes 1-4) (DVD)

15 year old Mai Tokiha and her younger brother Takumi have been invited to attend the prestigious Fuka Academy, a unique island school that is administered by its own attendees. On the ship ride there they meet two of their fellow students. Yuichi is a normal guy but might just be a closet pervert, and he is always accompanied by his childhood friend, Shiho, whose tendril-like hair reflects her emotions, especially her jealousy of Mai! Things get a little stranger when a girl's body is pulled from the water. She is revived by Mai's CPR training but the strange thing is that when they pulled her out she was gripping a large grey sword! Another mysterious yet beautiful girl enters the picture, who seems to be either trying to kill or capture the sword wielder. She has some pretty fancy pistols that seem to materialize out of nowhere to match up against the sword. When the battle begins, Mai finds herself in the middle and awakening an unknown power in herself. Mai is a "Hime" and it is no coencidence that she is journeying to Fuka Academy. Secret powers are gathering together girls with supernatural abilties to fight against an enemy from the stars called "Orphans". Even if she takes on that battle and wins, she'll still have to do all her schoolwork too!

When all the sword-play, shooting, and pseudo-mecha fighting ends in the frenetic first episode, My-Hime brings in a lot of comedy and bishojo elements. While the show might not be that original, the characters more than make up for it, with some top-notch acting by the Japanese cast. Everyone involved has a wide dramatic range, playing not only the action, but the comedy to the hilt and reminds me a bit of Full Metal Panic in feel. The designs and animation are fantastic, but once again it is the characterization that makes this show tick. The only danger I can see in this show is that it could have the potential to fall into the "Monster Battle of the Week" formula, but with some clever writing this first volume avoids that. It remains to be seen if this continues to be the case. This is the first series in a while that I've really enjoyed. It's a real treat.

Extras are pretty slim. After each episode is over, there are some very funny featurettes about the characters in the show, which seem like they were already included, so they don't seem like "extras". There's also a Japanese promo clip.

I would also recommend the anime Full Metal Panic, Azumanga Daioh, and Midori Days.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good start to a great series, January 24, 2006

By 

Liberty Meadows "AG" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My-Hime, Volume 1 (Special Edition) (DVD)

MY-HIME (aka MAI-HIME) revolves around Mai Tokiha, a teenage girl who has received a scholarship to the prestigious Fuka Academy. While traveling there with her little brother (who also has a scholarship) aboard a ferry, they spot a girl floating face down in the ocean. The girl is rescued and revived -- but what's with that mysterious sword she's clinging to?

Soon all hell breaks loose as another girl boards the ship intent on eliminating the rescued female. Clearly these are no ordinary girls as they both openly display spectacular superhuman powers. Somehow Mai gets caught in the middle of the battle and before long she is showcasing her own heretofore untapped superpowers.

From thereon, MY-HIME plays like your typical "cute teenage girls with superpowers" anime as Mai arrives at Fuka Academy and has to balance her banal school life with the revelation that she is no ordinary human being, and neither are some of the other girls at the school. But just when you think you've got things all figured out, the plot takes one unexpected turn after another.

For the first few episodes, MY-HIME does a credible job of introducing a various assortment of characters and mixing together equal parts comedy, drama, romance and action. The character designs are quite appealing, the artwork is smooth and fluid, and the action sequences are impressive. Mai is a very likeable lead character who earns viewer sympathy by the way she cares for her sickly younger brother Takumi, who has heart problems.

MY-HIME is a colorful and eclectic anime series that was highly popular in Japan and spawned a sequel of sorts called MAI OTOME. MY-HIME consists of 26 episodes, which will likely be spread over 7 DVDs. I'm giving the first disc only three stars (I'd give the entire series 4 stars overall) because the initial episodes are light and entertaining (one episode features a monster that steals girls' underwear), but more amusing than memorable. If you are a fan of anime like PROJECT A-KO or SCRYED or SCRAPPED PRINCESS, then MY-HIME should be right up your alley. Although not as dark or gory as ELFEN LIED (another "cute teenage girls with superpowers" series), I found it vastly superior in terms of storytelling and character development.

In the second half of the series, the show takes a decidedly darker turn as more and more revelations pour out and the characters are faced with making some life altering decisions. It is then that MY-HIME turns into a truly great anime, albeit one that is slightly let down by a rather cheesy finale.

The collector's box for Vol. 1 is a disappointingly cheap effort from Bandai. It's thin and flimsy, and likely to get damaged during shipping. Unless you really want the T-shirt that's included with the box, you're probably better off just buying the cheaper standalone DVD release.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great blend of modern action anime, July 23, 2006

By 

M. Lam (NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My-Hime, Volume 1 (Episodes 1-4) (DVD)

My Hime is a little bit hard to describe. It has elements from lots of different anime, so it seems familiar but at the same time easily stands out (rather than being a copy-cat anime).

My Hime was released somewhat recently (the copyright reads 2004-2006), so the animation is very clean and well done. The character designs are all top notch, so the show is quite excellent visually.

Several of the main characters are "Hime", girls with special abilities. This brings some magical girl aspects to the show, but the battles in My Hime are more intense than in most magical anime. For example, one girl has a huge sword that cuts through pretty much anything, while another summons a set of guns and a robotic dog with mounted cannons on it.

Besides the battles, which are pretty cool, the show focuses a lot on the charaters. So far the story is very interesting. It's not terribly dark, but at times is fairly serious. At other times, the show is quite whimsical. It all blends together well for an enjoyable experience.